I Can't Sleep
by Wherever Girl
Summary: By day, she could handle anything. But once the sun went down, her fears got the best of her. Rated T for slight horrifying images. PugsxBrie fluffness, written out of insomnia so read with caution.


Well people, I drank too much soda, and now I can't sleep. You know what THAT means…

Another PugsXBrie one-shot! …God help my sanity.

Summary: Brielle has trouble sleeping (like the authoress), due to nightmarish images appearing in her head. Luckily, Puggsy's there to comfort her. Basically a fluff/romance one-shot, you have been warned.

And the usual disclaimer shows that I only own Brielle, no one else, blah blah blabbity blah… lets just get this over with.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

She was strong. Bold. Independent. She had been trained in the most skilled martial arts, learned how to fight off any foe, and mastered the use of any kind of weapon, most skilled with a pair of daggers and could slice someone's face clean off- if provoked far enough. She wasn't afraid of anything- having gone through every horrifying experience imaginable, from watching her family get killed to nearly getting raped, all the while being stalked by a former-father figure who had recently turned on her.

Nothing could scare Brielle Shereba.

…That is, during the day.

It was at night when fear got the best of her. As the sun went down and the shadows of the night crept over the town, the fear she felt in her past experiences would return, filling her with paranoia when she was alone, becoming tense and allowing her imagination to get the best of her. Sometimes she would think she was seeing current Veni-Con-Yei hunters hiding in the shadows, waiting to ambush her and kill her for leaving their group; Or thinking Vincent was waiting just around the corner, ready to give her another gash in her neck, making sure this one would be fatal. Other times, she would imagine seeing ghosts of her deceased family, lurking in the night, calling to her to join them, or reliving the night they were mercilessly slaughtered; or her former bodyguard standing before her, only to fall to the ground, dead like the others…

She hated the dark. When she traveled alone, she always stayed in cities full of bright lights, or slept on crowded trains or airplanes or buses, training herself to sleep only a few four hours and to wake at the slightest sense of alarm. Vincent had trained her to do so, so she could always be alert. Despite his betrayal, she was thankful for his teachings.

She wasn't alone now, traveling with a new group of friends. It had been three weeks since she had met them, let alone found a slight attachment to Puggsy. She couldn't really describe what drew her to him- perhaps it was the way he helped her learn to trust again, or perhaps he was the first boy not to give up chasing after her when she punched his lights out. The ironic thing was neither of them were into romance, so she had doubts they would build a relationship- alright, so they kissed once, but they didn't exactly pour out their feelings or made any vows or any of that heart-felt drabble every couple goes through. They might have shared a tender moment, but she didn't think it meant they were an official couple (no matter HOW many times Fangs and Kasandra teased them about it).

As they drove down the highway, she felt relaxed- Vincent was put in jail, as well as the maniac who had tried pushing her off a roof back in California, and for once she felt as if everything in her life was starting to go right. No danger (much), no psychos stalking her, no having to defend herself (though she didn't let her guard down- especially when ticking off Hunter)… It was as if every terrible thing that ever happened to her never existed.

Until they pulled up to a hotel in a small town, as the sun was beginning to set. As what usually happened, everyone decided to share a room with someone. It was normally Kim with Biff, Brielle with Kasandra, and Fangs with Puggsy, if not all three girls in one room and guys in the other. Tonight, however, there came a different arrangement. "Fangs, lets you and I could share a room together," Kasandra said in her southern drawl, her arm linked with Fangs' as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I miss having someone to snuggle with,"

"Ooh, ooh, I couldn't agree more, my little cuddle-bunny," Fangs answered, nuzzling her cheek.

_Gag me, _Brielle thought, and by Puggsy's expression, she could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"Biff and I will be in this room, then." Kim said.

"…Guess that leaves us, then." Puggsy said to Brielle, shrugging.

"No, really? I was thinking I was going to room with the Invisible Man," Brielle answered, sarcastically.

Puggsy merely rolled his eyes, used to her attitude- especially he had one to match. He nodded over to their room. "C'mon, let's just get some sleep,"

_They're in for an awkward night. _Kasandra thought as she watched Brielle and Puggsy walk into their room. Sure, they had lied together back at the hospital in California, but that was barely an hour- they had at least eight hours to spend together.

"You coming, Kassy?" Fangs asked her. "What're you looking at?"

Kassy shrugged. "Just thinking about Pugs and Brie." She answered, walking over and sitting down on the bed next to her beau. "It's basically the first time they actually got some alone time, and I guess I'm just curious on what might happen,"

Fangs thought about it. "Well. Either they'll get into an argument which will lead to a fist-fight, or their relationship might take a fresh turn. …Either way, I'm sleeping with ear-muffs on tonight."

Kassy couldn't help it. She burst out laughing. "Fangs, hon, I highly doubt things would move along _that _fast for them. …Heck, Brielle would probably punch Pugs unconscious again if he even made a move. Plus, you know him well enough to know he's not like that,"

Fangs considered it. "That's true… Well, lets call up the hospital then, and ask them to have an ambulance stand by after their brawl, then."

Kasandra rolled her eyes, chuckling. "How about we stop worrying about 'em, and snuggle down?"

Fangs smiled. "Ooh, ooh, sounds good to me."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Kim and Biff lied in bed, watching a bit of TV. "Biff… what do you think of Puggsy and Brielle?" Kim asked.

"What do you mean?" Biff asked.

"Well… this is their first time alone together- aside from the last time in California. You think they're going to be alright?"

Biff arched an eyebrow. "Unless they start an argument and get in a fist-fight, I don't see why they wouldn't be. Why are you so worried?"

Kim shrugged. "It's just… well, you remember the way Puggsy was when Brielle was in the ER, and the way he bolted down the hallway to see her, let alone the fact at how close he was to her. But after the past three weeks, they act as if none of it happened, and now they're sharing a room…"

"Whoa, Kim, calm down. You have to remember, they had just met that day, and it's barely been a month since Brielle joined the team- not to mention neither of them are into romance. I doubt anything is going on between them,"

Kim sighed. "That's why I'm so concerned…"

Biff gave her a look. "Care to explain? Because I'm still confused, here."

"Alright… Ever since Kassy came along and she and Fangs had become a couple, and with you and I always hanging out… well, I just always got the idea that Puggsy felt left-out, being the only one without a girl of his own at his side." She then caught herself. "N-Not that you and I are going out too! Just… well, he probably felt like the fifth-wheel most of the time, you know?"

Biff nodded, decided he'd hold back on the fact that he always thought of Kim as 'his girl', but decided not to express his feelings just yet- especially since his friend felt awkward enough after her last statement. "So, why are you so worried about him and Brielle being alone?"

Kim sighed once more. "I just… I guess I'm worried that Puggsy might get his heart broken. If he really likes Brielle, but it turns out she doesn't even like him back- or even the vice-versa, Puggsy might not even realize he has a chance with her, and might end up hurting her feelings by accident. Or, what if he doesn't even know how to act around a girl? He never brought up going out with many- what if this is his first time with a girl?"

(a/n: at that last sentence, I nearly died laughing- goodnight, everybody!)

Biff put an arm around her, snickering. "Kim. Listen. I highly doubt any romance is going to spring between them- and not because of heartbreak, but the fact that they haven't spent much time together, like you said. I know Puggsy was really close to her back in California, but I think that was because- after their run-in with Vincent- he was just protective of her, like how I'd be protective of you if anything bad happened to you."

He realized what he had just said and felt himself blushing, but thankfully Kim hadn't noticed. "You're right," she said, smiling a bit. "I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic, huh?"

Biff shook his head. "Not at all. You may be right- maybe they could be in love, maybe they won't. I guess we won't know until after tonight,"

Kim nodded, and rested her head on his shoulder, both of them deciding to set the matter aside and continue watching television.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

One. Bed.

That was all there was in the room, other than a television and heater.

_Oh, dear Lord… _Brielle thought, her gaze moving upward, figuring someone up there must be messing with her.

"So." Puggsy said, quick but casually.

"Yeah." She replied bluntly, then picked up her bag. "I'm, um, going to change in the restroom,"

"Okay, you do that, I'll… change out here."

_I can practically hear Matthew now: 'Alright, Brie! First night, woo! Have fun, but don't have too much fun!' _Brielle thought, referring to her long-lost twin brother, shaking her head.

Matthew… or 'Twiggy', as he went by these days. She hadn't seen him in years- only because he said it would be dangerous if she were to try and contact him. Was he also part of an elite group, like that of the Veni-Con-Yei? She remembered the first time they met, when she and Vincent were sent to hunt down his foster-family, the same night she saw the psychotic side of Vincent…

"Oh, Brielle…" came a chilling voice, and she looked in the mirror, gasping when she saw it was Vincent. "Look who I ran into…"

She almost vomited, seeing that the werewolf hunter was holding onto her brother, his throat slit, blood leaking onto the floor. "Brielle… help… me…" he choked out, his eyes rolling back.

Brielle gasped, shutting her eyes, opening them to see it was just another horrid illusion, caused by her imagination. She splashed some water onto her face, pulled on a night T-shirt and pajama pants, and walked out of the bathroom, seeing Puggsy was lying back on the bed, staring at the television, wearing an undershirt and a pair of pajama pants, his hat lying on the nightstand. She stood there for a minute, albeit nervous…

_What are you so nervous about? _She criticized herself. _All you're going to do is sleep. Sheesh._

She walked around to the other side and sat down, looking at the television. "What're you watching?" she asked him.

"Just a horror-movie, _Prom Night,_" Puggsy replied, in a somewhat bored tone. "Kind of sappy, it's putting me asleep,"

There was a scream on the television, and they watched as one of the characters was attacked by the killer, their blood splattering against a plastic curtain. "Nice," Brielle commented.

After another 45 minutes of watching the movie, Puggsy finally turned off the light, lying down and drifting to sleep. Brielle, on the other hand, couldn't dose off so easily, watching a scene where the killer had broken into the main-character's house and killed her boyfriend (a/n: apologies for the spoilers for those of you who never saw the movie yet). She shivered a bit, wincing, then shook her head. _It's just a dumb movie, _she told herself, turning off the television and lying down…

Ten minutes later, she heard a *click*, followed by a *thud*, and immediately sat up in bed, seeing the window was open. She reached over the edge of the bed and into her bag, pulling out one of her daggers, and snuck over to the window. No one apparently entered the room yet, and she looked out the window, seeing no one in sight. Still, she felt an eerie presence in the room, and walked back over to the bed. "Puggsy, wake up. I think someone's in the room," she whispered, but received no answer. "Pugs, wake—"

She felt something warm just then, and pulled her hand back… finding it was blood. Heart racing, she turned on the lights, seeing that Puggsy's entire abdomen was filled with gashes, blood all over the bed, and standing beside him was a masked figure… the same masked figure who had killed her family. "I knew I'd find you again…" he rasped, and she could tell he was grinning from behind his mask. "Prepare to die like your sister!"

"No!" Brielle screamed, jerking backward…

*thud!*

…falling off the bed. She opened her eyes, seeing the room was dark again, and she sat up gasping, her hand fumbling into her bag and grabbing her daggers. She surveyed the room, trying not to breathe too loudly, expecting the murderer to appear right in front of her.

"Brie?"

"Hah!" She cried out, frantically, aiming her knife at… "P-Puggsy?"

Puggsy stared at the tip of her blade, almost cross-eyed, and leaned back. "Whoa, put those away! You're about to stabbify me in the eyes!"

Brielle pulled her knives back, her hands shaking. She started to breath heavily, a little relieved, but still in shock. Puggsy was still alive… yet because of her vision she came close to cutting his life short. Her whole body began to tremble as she dropped her knives, and finally she couldn't take it anymore. She broke down in tears.

"Brie? What's wrong?" He climbed out of bed and knelt beside her. "What's the matter? …C'mon, tell me," He flinched a bit when she clung onto him, sobbing on his shoulder.

"I can't sleep…" Brielle whimpered. "Every night, I keep seeing things- I keep seeing Vincent or some masked psycho killing someone, or my parents or sister haunting me as ghosts, or reliving memories of the night they died or when Vincent threatened to kill me… I've been having them ever since I was 14, and I don't know how to get rid of them!" she squeezed his shoulders tightly, the tears gushing out of her eyes. "I thought they would have stopped by now… but they keep coming back. I just want them to stop…" she pulled away, looking at him straight in the eye. "Puggsy… I'm scared."

It wasn't the first time Puggsy had seen Brielle cry- three weeks ago she was in tears all because they were at the mercy of Vincent and she blamed herself- but he had never seen her scared. Even when Vincent had aimed his gun at her, threatening to kill her, or even raised his knife to her throat, she wasn't scared- startled, maybe, but not scared.

Actually, 'scared' didn't even fit her right now. 'Scared' was Fangs panicking after watching a ghost-movie. 'Scared' was Toni when she accidentally dented the Wolf Buggy while playing baseball with Fangpuss. 'Scared' was Puggsy himself whenever Fangface saw a turkey sandwich and wanted to eat him (though the tough-guy wouldn't admit it, masking his fear with annoyance).

No… 'Scared' didn't fit Brielle at all at this moment. Terrified, petrified, horrified didn't even match. The girl was somewhere between paralyzed shock and a heart-attack! Even Fangs never was this scared. No one he knew was ever this scared…

Except Hunter, the day she found out both her parents were dead. _That's how Brielle must feel, _he realized. _Except, she's seeing it every night- even if it never happened. Everything she's gone through… it hasn't stopped in her mind, no matter how hard she's tried to forget, like she's stuck in an endless nightmare._

_Well, _said the stern part of his mind. _It's time for her to awaken up._

"It's over, Brielle," Puggsy told her, gently grabbing onto her shoulders. "There's nothing to be afraid of. No one's after you now, you're safe."

"I keep telling myself that… but I keep imagining something horrible-" Brielle began to reply, trying to choke back a sob.

"So stop imagining it and wake up to reality. If anyone were to ever come near you, the rest of us will be right beside you, making sure they don't lie a hand upon ya. Heck, they'd be dead just trying to get through me," He paused when Brielle began to sob.

"That was my latest nightmare- someone had broken into our room and killed you,"

Puggsy blinked. "…Thank you for sharing that pleasant thought…" he sighed, shaking his head. "Brielle, it was just a nightmare, it's not going to happen!"

"But I can't stop seeing it! Every time I close my eyes-"

He gripped her tighter, shaking her a bit. "Then open your eyes, and look at me. C'mon, look!"

She lifted her gaze toward him. She was never one to keep eye-contact for too long, unless she was trying to tell if someone were lying or not, otherwise she would always turn her gaze away. But he wouldn't let her look away, she knew, so she just stared into his dark brown eyes, still shaking, trying to hold back any more tears. He gazed into her eyes, barely glancing anywhere else. She stared so long she saw her reflection in them, seeing her own petrified face, watching as it slowly began to calm down the longer she looked into them.

"Are you seeing anything?"

"No," she answered quietly.

"Alright, now close them, slowly."

She did so, trying to hide her hesitation, fearing she might see another horrid vision. She winced, thinking that, while her eyes were closed, someone might sneak in…

"Don't think about those nightmarish visions, Brielle. Think about other things- about all the places you've traveled to, about your favorite movies, anything that makes you happy. Think about… I don't know… Hunter going bald!"

That last thought actually popped into her mind, and she chuckled a bit.

"Good, keep thinking thoughts like that. Think about… maybe us being the weird-wolves, and getting to harass them for a change. Think about those sappy Twilight books getting burned in a bonfire! Think of Vincent in… I don't know, a pink dress."

She continued to laugh. "What else should I think about?"

Puggsy shrugged. "Anything you want, it's your imagination- you control it, I don't."

Brielle let the words sink in, realizing he had a point, and it was time for her to take control of her imagination once again.

"I, uh… have one other suggestion,"

Brielle opened one eye, smirking. "Yeah? What?"

Puggsy rubbed the back of his neck. "Never mind, lets just…"

She punched him lightly on the arm. "C'mon, tell me… or do I have to point my daggers at you again?"

He looked at her, rolling his eyes. "It's… nothing, really. Just a weird idea…"

"C'mon. Weirder than Vincent in a pink dress?"

"Alright, not THAT weird."

"So… what is it?"

Puggsy sighed, scratching his head, going down his neck, a slight blush on his face. "Maybe, you could try… thinking of me."

Brielle lightly scoffed, smiling. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I know- stupid idea. Forget I mentioned it,"

Brielle shook her head. "Actually… it's not a bad idea. I don't know why I didn't try it before,"

Puggsy arched an eyebrow, smirking. "Maybe because you were too busy pointing daggers at me,"

She sighed. "Alright, I'm sorry for almost impaling you through the nostrils."

He shrugged. "Eh, it's not the first time you tried to murdify me." He stood up, offering her his hand. "Now, lets get to bed. I'm exhaustified,"

She took his hand, standing up with him, both of them crawling into bed. She closed her eyes, almost seeing Vincent in the corner, knife-drawn…

"Are you going to be okay?"

Suddenly, the hunter was in a frilly pink dress, his knife replaced with a stuffed bunny. She smiled. "Yeah…" she moved closer to him, draping her arm around him. "Thank you,"

Puggsy smiled, wrapping his arms around her, holding her tight. Within minutes, she had drifted to sleep, and he could tell she had been thinking of him- not because he was right next to her, not because she wasn't crying in her sleep, and not because he had told her to.

He knew, because he was thinking of her the whole night.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

_The Next Evening…_

The gang had traveled to New York, exploring the city for a while and checking into a hotel, able to afford three rooms. Biff and Kim went with their usual arrangement, and figured the others would do the same, Kassy rooming with Brie while Fangs roomed with Pugs…

"How about if we share a room, again?" Brielle suggested to Puggsy.

"Eh, sounds good to me." Puggsy replied, and they walked down the hall to their room.

The others looked at each other, mildly surprised. "They're a couple. You owe me a dollar," Kasandra said to Fangs, who bitterly pulled out his wallet.

"Double or nothing it doesn't last a week…" he muttered.

That night, Brielle ignored all nervousness, blocking out all dark visions, and fell asleep without fear, finally sleeping peacefully… all because of the man who put an end to her nightmares once and for all, who held her each night.

0o0o0o0o0o0

A/N: (looks at clock) _**4:17 **_IN THE FRICKIN' MORNING! That's how bad my insomnia was tonight, and this fic is enough to PROVE it! (Sheesh, now I know what Brielle was going through!)

Well, you know the routine: Read, Review, Don't flame or I'll beat you with a cinderblock.


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